Here is the recording of the marimba/bass duet of “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella” arranged by Nathan Daughtrey. This duet version, for marimba (Jeff Sass) and bass (Jeff Skaare), was performed at Faith Lutheran Church’s Christmas Eve service. If you enjoy it, please go by the “Yuletide Marimba” book at Steve Weiss Music today!
I will be performing on a marimba + electric bass duet of Nathan Daughtrey’s arrangement of “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella” this Sunday at Faith Lutheran Church in Minnneapolis, MN. I will be playing the marimba and Jeff Skaare will be playing electric bass. We will be playing at all 3 services (8am, 9:15am, 10:45pm).
This piece is from a collection called “Yuletide Marimba” and the music is available from C. Alan Publications, and Steve Weiss Music. Thanks to Nathan Daughtrey for arranging this piece.
The University of Minnesota Percussion Ensemble is teaming up with the MacPhail Rimshots! Percussion Ensemble to perform a concert this Saturday at 8pm. The concert is free and open to the public. It will be at the MacPhail Center for Music in Antonello Hall.
The following pieces are scheduled to be performed:
Akadinda Trio by Emmanuel Sejourne
Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble, Mvt 4 by Ney Rosauro
Mudra by Bob Becker
Third Construction by John Cage
Ionisation by Edgar Varese
Samba by Ney Rosauro
This is a cool idea to get two different percussion ensembles from two different schools together for a free concert. I will be in the audience so if you are attending stop by and say hi!
On March 11, 2012 at Faith Lutheran Church my friend Jenny Klukken performed a wonderful marimba solo called “Zamba para escuchar tu silencio” by Guillo Espel. I first heard about this piece at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in 2009 and then heard it performed by Angel Frette at the Marimba 2010 International Festival and Conference.
I emailed Guillo Espel directly and he provided the following program notes:
“Zamba” is a traditional Argentine folk rhythm. For that reason, the title begins by giving an idea of the style of the piece, at least for the ones who are acquainted with traditional Argentine music. As to “para escuchar tu silencio,” we can translate like “to hear your silence”. The “Zamba” is an Argentine rhythm which is very popular & important in Argentina folk music. Rhythmically this song is unique as it is written in 6/8 instead of the normal 3/4 time and is usually accented on the last count of the measure than traditional simpler zamba music.Zamba music is often written in 6/8 and performed alternately in 3/4 and 6/8 time with the accents varying between measures. Traditionally zamba music has no relationship with chamber music. This piece is unique in that I bring my own connection to chamber music into a more traditional folk style by mixing the two styles. By shifting the traditional development of chords and the expanding the melody and by using the silence in the piece I am able to mix these two styles of music and expand upon a traditionalist zamba. By the way, the criterion of structuring the “musical silence” within each piece is one of my permanent concerns.
With Guillo Espel’s permission I was able to record and post Jenny’s performance below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Guillo’s quartet also recorded a version of this which is also a great arrangement.
To learn more about Guillo Espel you can visit his website. Thanks to Guillo for this fantastic piece which I hope will be played more frequently throughout the entire world.
The Evolution Duo Kickstarter project “Compose. Perform. Inspire” has completed and the premiere concert will be online tomorrow Oct 13 at 1pm Eastern. To listen to the great new duo works, head over to :
The Facebook page for this event also has more information including the list of composers including:
Casey Cangelosi
Dave Hall
Baljinder Singh Sekhon
David Skidmore
Csaba Zoltan Marjan
Maria Finkelmeier
Jacob Remington
I am looking forward this concert and it is great that it is being posted online since they are in Sweden! Tweet #evolutionduopremiere during the event to join the discussion.
Jenny Klukken will be performing Emmanuel Sejourne’s “Concerto for Marimba and Strings” on November 6th at 3pm with the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis. The performance will be held at Wayzata Community Church and is free and open to the public.
I will also be performing in this concert in the percussion session. Mark your calendars and come out and see a live marimba concerto being performed. It doesn’t happen that often!
Momoko Kamiya has released her new CD “Pieces of Peace”. You can read more about it at her Facebook announcement page.
I had the privilege of meeting Momoko Kamiya at the Marimba 2010 International Festival and Conference. She premiered a piece called “Blossoms in the Sunlight” on the opening concert and was part of my previous blog post about the festival.
At minimum everyone should go spend $1 and buy that track right now. It is similar to “Land” and very lyrical and gorgeous. Another favorite is “HATO-OTO” which has a surprisingly jazzy section and is another one of my marimba solo favorites of recent years.
She teams up with Bodgan Bacanu on “Atom Hearts Duo” as well which I will be spending more time listening to this week.
Go support another marimbist and purchase these tracks today!
“Groundlines” the new composition from John Serry for solo marimba is now available in its entirety at the Vic Firth web site. This recording was from PASIC this year and performed by Ji Hye Jung. Enjoy it!
My work schedule has kept me pretty busy this year so the holiday break allowed me to return to the marimba. Last week I performed “Carol of the Bells” arranged by Nathan Daughtrey.
This arrangement can be purchased as part of the Yuletide Marimba book from C. Alan Publications. The recording is available here on iTunes. I highly recommend adding the book and recordings to your marimba collection!
Over the next few years I will continue to perform them as they work very nicely in a church setting.
Below is a link to an excerpt of the performance. I hope you enjoy it!
On December 26th at Faith Lutheran Church my wife Heidi and I performed an arrangement of “Birthday of a King” and “O Holy Night”. Heidi had arranged this for piano and voice originally and we decided to perform it together this time with marimba and piano.
One of the members said of this performance “I am glad your marriage survived the key change”.
I hope you enjoy it.